Chapter 3

The silence between them stretched longer than Eli was comfortable with.

The forest around them felt unusually still, as if even the wind had decided to stop moving. Eli stood a few steps away from the man, his heart still unsettled from the words he had just heard.

“You’re already mine.”

Those words kept repeating in his mind like an echo he couldn’t shut off.

Eli clenched his fists.

“…Stop saying that,” he said sharply. “I don’t belong to anyone.”

The man didn’t react immediately.

He just watched Eli quietly, as if studying him.

Calm.

Unbothered.

That calmness irritated Eli more than anything.

“What even are you?” Eli asked, his voice rising slightly. “You appear in the forest, you grab me, I wake up with some strange mark on my neck, and now you’re saying I belong to you? Do you even hear how crazy that sounds?”

A faint breeze moved through the trees, but the man didn’t break eye contact.

After a moment, he finally spoke.

“I didn’t force the bond.”

Eli frowned immediately.

“What does that even mean?”

The man took a slow step forward.

This time, Eli didn’t move back—but his body tensed instinctively.

“You came close to death,” the man said quietly. “The bond activated to keep you alive.”

Eli blinked.

“…What? That makes no sense.”

The man’s eyes flickered slightly.

“It does to those who understand it.”

Eli let out a frustrated breath.

“I don’t understand anything you’re saying!”

A brief silence followed.

Then the man tilted his head slightly.

“You’re feeling it already.”

Eli paused.

“…Feeling what?”

Before the man could answer, Eli suddenly froze.

A strange sensation spread through his chest again.

But this time, it was stronger.

Clearer.

Like something inside him was tightening.

Not pain.

Not fear.

Something like… direction.

Eli’s breath caught.

“…There it is again,” he whispered.

The man’s gaze lowered slightly to Eli’s chest.

“The pull,” he said simply.

Eli looked up quickly.

“This thing has a name?”

The man nodded once.

Eli pressed a hand against his chest, trying to steady himself.

The sensation wasn’t random.

It was pointing somewhere.

Not physically.

Emotionally.

Instinctively.

Toward the man standing in front of him.

Eli’s brows furrowed.

“…Why does it feel like I’m being dragged toward you?”

The man didn’t answer right away.

Instead, he stepped closer again.

Slowly.

Eli’s body reacted before his mind did—he should have stepped back.

But he didn’t.

The distance between them shortened.

Now only a few steps apart.

The air felt heavier.

Stranger.

More charged.

Eli swallowed.

“…What did you do to me?” he asked again, quieter this time.

The man’s voice dropped slightly.

“I told you. I didn’t force it.”

“That’s not an answer.”

The man’s gaze didn’t waver.

“It’s a bond. It connects life force between two beings.”

Eli’s stomach tightened.

“That sounds insane.”

“It saved your life,” the man added calmly.

Eli hesitated.

“…So I’m alive because of this thing?”

“Yes.”

Eli looked away briefly, trying to process that.

His memory flickered back—the forest, the pain, the darkness.

If what he was saying was true…

He should have died.

But he didn’t.

He exhaled slowly.

“…That still doesn’t explain why I feel like this.”

The man studied him again.

“Because the bond is active.”

Eli frowned.

“Active?”

“It reacts when one side is in proximity to the other.”

Eli’s eyes widened slightly.

“…So that feeling in my chest… is because of you?”

The man nodded once.

Eli immediately stepped back.

The moment he did, the sensation in his chest loosened slightly.

He stopped.

Then stepped forward again.

It tightened.

His expression changed.

“…So it’s distance-based?”

“Yes.”

Eli stared at him.

“That’s… messed up.”

The man didn’t argue.

Eli ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.

“I don’t even know your name,” he muttered.

A pause.

Then—

“Kieran.”

Eli looked up.

“…Kieran.”

The name felt strange in his mouth.

Kieran watched him carefully.

Eli exhaled sharply.

“Okay, Kieran. Let’s say I believe this ridiculous ‘bond’ thing for a second.”

Kieran didn’t react.

Eli continued.

“What happens now?”

Silence.

Then Kieran spoke quietly.

“You stay alive.”

Eli frowned.

“That’s not an answer either.”

“It is the only one that matters.”

Eli opened his mouth to argue—

But suddenly stopped.

Because the forest changed.

The air shifted.

Kieran’s expression hardened instantly.

“…They’re here.”

Eli froze.

“…Who?”

Kieran stepped slightly in front of him.

“Don’t move.”

Eli’s heartbeat spiked immediately.

“Wait—what do you mean don’t move?!”

But Kieran didn’t answer.

The trees around them began to rustle.

Not from wind.

From movement.

Multiple directions.

Eli’s breath quickened.

“…No, no, no—this is not happening again.”

Shadows began to form between the trees.

Not natural ones.

Moving ones.

Eli took an instinctive step back, but Kieran’s voice cut sharply through the tension.

“Stay behind me.”

Eli hesitated.

But the pressure in the air made it hard to think.

Then—

Figures stepped out.

At least three of them.

All staring directly at Eli.

And smiling.

“Well,” one of them said. “So this is him.”

Eli’s stomach dropped.

“…Me?”

The man tilted his head.

“The human marked by the Alpha King.”

Eli immediately turned to Kieran.

“…Alpha King?”

Kieran didn’t look at him.

His focus was on the men ahead.

His voice dropped low.

“Leave.”

The men laughed softly.

“No.”

The air changed again.

Tension snapped like a wire pulled too tight.

Eli felt it instinctively.

Something was about to happen.

And he was in the middle of it.

Kieran’s eyes darkened.

“…You shouldn’t have come here.”

The man in front smirked.

“And you shouldn’t have bonded with a human.”

Silence.

Then—

Kieran moved.

Fast.